Victory
by Jax Malcolm
Summary: An epic battle between the mighty and the meek produces unexpected results. Oneshot request fic.


Foreword: The following is a request made to me by Ramen Pirate, who was awesome enough to feed my fangirlish needs. Suggestions for Pokémon and movesets were made by Solomons Nightmare, team building guru.

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Neither of them spoke to one another as they entered the large room. The attendant, a woman whose features were barely noteworthy, closed the door behind them without a word herself. Both trainers were left in the metal-walled space in a cold, expansive silence. The silence by itself felt so foreign to the boy that he walked only to fill it with the taps of the soles of his feet against the hard, brown floor.

The girl rubbed her bare arms with her hands. She cursed her attire: the sleeveless, blue shirt and the red skirt that was far too short to cover much of anything, namely. Her thick, brown hair provided a bit of warmth to her neck and shoulders, at least, but it wasn't enough to protect her from the air conditioning. She walked towards the opposite side of the room, the tapping of her white-sneakered feet filling the gaps between the taps the boy made.

He, meanwhile, stopped on one end of the large rectangle in the middle. As he flashed a look at the girl, he couldn't help but smirk. He was comfortable in his long-sleeved, black and red shirt and his black pants. What little heat the lights of the room produced were absorbed by the material against his pale skin. Even the black headband in his white hair did enough to keep him warm as he slipped it over the tips of his ears. His dark eyes rose towards the girl across the room as he studied her discomfort. Much of her face was tilted down, the top half at that angle being obscured by the white brim of her hat.

"Cold?" he asked.

"No," she said.

Not another word was spoken. The boy nodded and reached onto his belt to unclip a single Poké Ball. His opponent followed. They knew the conditions; they discussed them before entering the room. It would speed things up, they figured.

Almost simultaneously, the trainers pressed the buttons on the faces of the balls. The spheres of red and white expanded in their hands, and they waited, poised after their choices were made to see who would get to have the first move. Their dark eyes locked for what felt like hours to both of their pounding hearts.

"Ladies first," he said.

She made no reply, save for a flick of her wrist to toss out her Poké Ball. The white portion struck the brown floor, and the red half was immediately jolted upwards by the impact. A flash of white light sprang in an arc to a point just a few feet beyond the open ball. As the ball snapped back together again and floated to the girl's hand, the white light crackled and hissed. It first shrank into a ball before pulsating outwards to form an odd shape. When the light finally faded, there stood a purple and beige monkey with a large hand at the tip of her swaying tail. Her large eyes and dopey grin were pointed at the ceiling while her large, round ears twitched to pick up her trainer's voice.

On the other side of the field, the male trainer nearly choked on his laughter. He said nothing, however, as he threw his own Poké Ball into the center of the arena. It, too, cracked open and released a flash of white light, but instead of striking a point on the ground, it rose above both trainers. The light quickly elongated into a large, serpentine shape. White faded into green. Red lips curled back to reveal sharp fangs. Small arms stretched and swiped at the air as fins and ears flexed. The large beast growled as it fixed its black and gold eyes on the small monkey. Yet it was a growl of intimidation and confidence more so than of territorialism or bravery mixed with a deeper fear. The beast was, after all, the mighty god of the skies, Rayquaza, facing an aipom, one tree dweller of many.

The trainers barely had to send orders to their respective monsters. The dragon knew instinctively what to do, as did the monkey. Before its opponent could so much as lift a stubby paw, the serpent rose into the air as far as it could go. Its fins struck the ceiling and rubbed against the lights as it turned its draconic head downward. Without much effort, its body followed, and soon, it was plummeting towards its opponent with a smirk on its face. The purple spot, at first, didn't bother to defend herself from the full force of a 455-pound dragon plunging into its small body, but then at the last possible second, she simply rolled out of the way. Rayquaza couldn't do anything to change its path at that point, and soon, the great god of the skies found itself planted face-first into the arena floor.

After the rest of Rayquaza's long body slammed into the hard floor, it lifted its aching snout. Its opponent was several feet away. She rose to her yellow feet, wagged her thin tail, and turned to send a goofy grin at Rayquaza. The serpent lifted itself off the ground with a roar as he gathered his energies for his next strike. A yellow-orange ball of pure light began to form in its mouth as Rayquaza channeled the bulk of its energy towards it. The orb pulsated and expanded outward until it filled Rayquaza's mouth with hot, burning energy.

With quick motions, Rayquaza threw its head back and snapped it forward to send the energy forward. The yellow-orange light ripped through the air in a beam headed straight for... completely empty space. Rayquaza's eyes widened as it realized that its opponent was no longer there. Meanwhile, the Hyper Beam struck the floor where Aipom had been just a moment before. The energy exploded on impact with the ground, leaving a smoking crater on the floor and bits of blackened material floating in the air. Stunned by the failure of its own move, Rayquaza scanned the arena for any sign of the purple fur ball.

She was sitting at the edge of the crater, staring into space.

An angry roar ripped from Rayquaza's throat as he tried for a second Hyper Beam. Aipom looked at her opponent once and scampered across the crater and to the other side. She didn't stop there, however, and chose instead to run circles under the godly serpent. Rayquaza's mouth filled with energy as it followed her tail – literally. Then, with another snap of its head, the legendary fired its beam. Aipom hopped to the side and continued running as the blast of light formed another smoking crater in the arena floor.

For twenty more minutes, this game of cat and mouse continued with the dragon firing beam after beam at the scurrying monkey below it. Each one missed, and each one was awarded with a taunting laughter from the monkey. At one point, as if she knew what to do to spite her opponent, Aipom clambered up the leg of the male trainer and sat on his shoulder as his own rayquaza aimed a beam directly at him. The trainer shrieked and dove out of the way just before a new crater appeared where he once was. The aipom, meanwhile, hopped off his shoulder, turned to the dragon, and grinned.

Rayquaza knew he couldn't execute any other Hyper Beams. It was out of the sort of energy to do so. So, instead, the dragon focused what little energy it had left into its sharp claws until they began to glow with a bright, white light. With a sharp growl, Rayquaza lunged at the monkey and began swiping towards her with its stubby arms. Unfortunately, its arms were too short and too low on its body, and Aipom was too quick for it. Time after time, he found himself swiping at thin air as Aipom jumped just beyond her opponent's claws. After each successful dodge, the monkey couldn't help but giggle at the poor serpent.

At that point, the god gave up on this attack and flew back to a point high above the arena. The Aipom stopped and looked intently at the serpent with a ready glint in her eye. However, Rayquaza knew one move she would never be able to dodge. Its red lips curled in a smirk as it prepared its every muscle for the strike. Then, all at once, it threw itself at the purple spot with blinding speed. To the monkey, her opponent suddenly disappeared from the air and suddenly reappeared inches from her before smashing completely into her body. She squealed in pain as the tackle smashed her into the floor. Her bones protested, and her nerves shrieked, even after Rayquaza lifted its body off her.

Rayquaza kept its snout close to the monkey to admire its own handiwork. She, as the dragon thought, was done. It was a dead-on attack used with all its power. How could she survive it?

Then, by some miracle, she moved.

Aipom grunted and ignored the pain of her battered body as she slowly pushed herself off the floor using her stubby forepaws. She planted her feet firmly beneath her as she flailed her tail for balance. Her feet refused to betray her, and for that, she was glad. However, her smile of happiness quickly turned to something else as she narrowed her eyes at her opponent and widened her grin. Rayquaza lifted its head in curiosity as it watched the aipom shift on her feet.

Suddenly, Aipom burst into a run towards and up Rayquaza's body. With what seemed like twice the energy Rayquaza used in its speedy attack, Aipom struck the bottom of its chin with a stubby paw, causing Rayquaza's head to snap backwards. Its eyes widened in shock as the force of the attack sent ripples down its lengthy body. Aipom slammed her feet into its neck and back flipped before landing safely a couple of feet away. For several moments, the rayquaza remained motionless, with its neck arched backwards and its eyes widened in shock. Then, it closed its eyes and allowed its body to slump sideways. Its head landed on the ground with a slam, but it otherwise no longer moved. Aipom and her trainer had won.

The room flashed, and a message displaying the battle results appeared. Somewhere beyond that world and beyond the screen that displayed it, two college students sat across from each other on a gray couch in an otherwise plain common room. The male frowned at the Gameboy he held as his fingers drifted towards the cable that connected his with that of the girl sitting across from him.

"How did you do that?" he asked his fellow student.

"Because I'm awesome," the female said with a grin. "That's how."


End file.
